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The first new domestic Airbus A320 celebrates Air New Zealand's long running sponsorship of the All Blacks rugby team with a stunning jet black livery, silver fern motif and Koru on the tail.

The aircraft, this Airbus A320-232, which carries the registration ZK-OAB (msn 4553), arrived in Auckland at 3:30 p.m. (1530) local time on February 1, 2011 after making a three day journey from Toulouse (France), via Gander (Canada), Denver, Los Angeles and Samoa. Air New Zealand accepted the new airliner at TLS on January 29, 2011.

After ZK-OAB touched down at Auckland, the aircraft taxied to the domestic terminal, where it received an official welcome.

The All Blacks represent New Zealand in the rugby union, which is regarded as the country’s national sport. The team won the inaugural Rugby World Cup, are the leading points scorers of all time and the only international rugby team with a winning record against every test nation they have ever played. They have the highest win ratio of 75 percent and have held the top ranking in the world for the most period of time in the IRB World Rankings. Only 5 of the top 20 ranked rugby union test nations have ever beaten New Zealand in over 100 years of international competition.

Like the new logojet, the team’s early uniforms consisted of a black jersey with a silver fern and white knickerbockers. By their 1905 tour New Zealand were wearing all black, except for the silver fern, and their All Black name dates from this time.

The All Blacks compete annually with the Wallabies (Australia) and the Springboks (South Africa) in the Tri-Nations Series and are currently champions for the tenth time in the tournament’s 15-year history.

The Airbus A320s will progressively replace Air New Zealand's existing fleet of Boeing 737-300s, increasing the number of passenger seats and improving fuel efficiency on the domestic jet network which forms the backbone of commercial air travel in New Zealand.

The first four will be delivered this year and the remaining ten progressively through until 2016, coinciding with the expiration of the current 737-300 aircraft leases.

The current 737-300 fleet is configured with 133 seats, with the larger domestic A320 aircraft increasing domestic jet capacity by almost 30%.